Premium Essay

Socially Constructed Rape In Canada

Submitted By
Words 208
Pages 1
The act of sexual assault in Canada is protected under Canada’s Criminal Code meaning that by definition every Canadian involved or offended by a sexual assault believes that they will be protected to the fullest extend by the Canadian criminal law during the trial and the prosecution. For many Canadian women especially racial women that is not the case, the frightening experience of sexual assault is only more trembling as women fear that the criminal justice system will be in disbelieve about their incident and question their integrity. Feminists argue that the socially constructed rape myths are present in the Canadian law and in Canadian society causing judges to make faulty decisions in sexual assault cases. Critics claim that individuals

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Theories and Concepts-Gender Studies

...I will be explaining the following: radical feminism; marxist feminism; hegemonic masculinity;gender;homophobia;misogyny; rape culture; and Heterosexism. I have focused on these six terms because they highlight how sexuality and gender are categorized culturally and in our Western Capitalist society, causing women to be oppressed. I have focused on the previously mentioned feminist theories because they focus on a male dominated society that encourages unrealistic gender stereotypes. Also, these theories explain how women experience discrimination and unfair disadvantages. Radical Feminism Radical Feminism relates to the idea that women are being dominated in a male driven patriarchal society. Oppression of women has been engrained into the structure of society is reinforced through areas like motherhood,family, the state. Radical feminism indicates that we live in patriarchal society that sexualizes women and never allows them to be an authority figure. It affects women on a global scale and continues to build a prioritized system that continuously gives men dominant power and control. Women cannot seek help through the system because it is biased and controls women’s sexuality. Social dominance allows privileges to be given out according to gender and basically states women should not be in control of their own bodies and men are connected to power. Women are prone to unjust treatment and every aspect of their lives in shaped around male dominance. Women are put in a...

Words: 2925 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Rhetoric

...Feminist perspectives are slowly becoming the standard for deconstructing popular culture. When doing so issues of masculine hegemony, gender roles, heteronormativity, objectivity, and an abundance of other concepts that stir up controversy are brought to the surface. Popular culture allows for the challenging of problems women have faced for many years, but it some cases is adheres to these traditions. It is vital to be able to see the overall message in a pop culture text in order to understand its implications. Some texts hold messages that were not intended to be there in the first place. There will forever be controversy when it comes to pop culture, especially when it comes to television shows, as the average Canadian watches 30 hours of T.V a week. (Ryan, 2013) When being constantly exposed to these messages it is important to know what information you are being fed. Some shows are more complex than others, and consist of mixed messages when looking at them from a feminist standpoint. One example of this would be The Mindy Project, a sitcom that first aired in 2012, and has since gained an average of $2.34 million viewers per episode, (IMDb, 2012) The Mindy Project is packed full of messages that can be depicted from a feminist standpoint, but are often blurred behind the hilarity it is known for. To give a brief synopsis of the show, Mindy Lahiri, played by Mindy Kaling, also the director of the show is the main character and also the narrator. The show is about her...

Words: 4642 - Pages: 19

Premium Essay

Gender Equality Is Undebatable

...gender equality. This essay deliberates on the assertion that, “Gender equality is debatable: what is undebatable is the attempt to make it universally applicable.” The writer agrees to a greater extent that gender equality is a controversial issue basing on the multiplicity of societies that it is applied to. The fact that there is no universal culture, universal religion or universal ideology makes the whole issue arguable, ence, the need to degenderise gender. Definition of Key Terms Keating, (2004:9) defines gender as, “the social meanings given to being either a man or a woman in a given society and the expectations held as to the character, attitude and likely behaviour of men and women.” "Gender refers to the cultural, socially-constructed differences between women and men and girls and boys. It refers to the way a society encourages and...

Words: 4163 - Pages: 17

Premium Essay

Family

...Sociology & Family Theorizing and Researching 1. Structural Theories a) Materialism & Conflict theory Marx & Engles -changes in family lives reflect material change (ex, the mode of production, industrialization) macro-micro focus -power differences characterize society at all levels (ex, capitalism creates: exploitation of men in the workforce; oppression of women b) Political Economy -assumes the power of the one class over another (social control), capitalist relations of production -a more concentrated focus on how economic and political processes shape society and history and therefore family, families c) Structural Functionalism Parsons & Bales -the social institution of the family - family is seen as a function, and different parts of society helps it move along -the nuclear family performs functions -they saw the families as a main faction, economic support, these functions that happen in nuclear families include economic support -equilibrium, all parts help it work as a whole -hierarchical generations and role specialization within families produces harmony -the different roles that men and women take on, allows the family be a harmony -parsons and bales, gendered perspective on families, families having instrumental roles such as achieving income, feed the family, cloth the family, this would be men 2. Symbolic Interactionism Mead & Cooley - individuals create their own family realities through micro level interactions -from...

Words: 8656 - Pages: 35

Premium Essay

Feminism

...Foundation Course 1 Human Rights, Gender & Environment Understanding Patriarchy Suranjita Ray• Subordination of women to men is prevalent in large parts of the world. We come across experiences where women are not only treated as subordinate to men but are also subject to discriminations, humiliations, exploitations, oppressions, control and violence. Women experience discrimination and unequal treatment in terms of basic right to food, health care, education, employment, control over productive resources, decision-making and livelihood not because of their biological differences or sex, which is natural but because of their gender differences which is a social construct. “Sex is considered a fact - one is born with either male or female genitalia. Gender is considered a social construction - it grants meaning to the fact of sex. Conversely, it could be said that only after specific meanings came to be attached to the sexes, did sex differences become pertinent” (Geetha, 2002: 10). Gender based discriminations and exploitations are widespread and the socio-culturally defined characteristics, aptitudes, abilities, desires, personality traits, roles, responsibilities and behavioral patterns of men and women contribute to the inequalities and hierarchies in society. Gender differences are man made and they get legitimised in a patriarchal society. This paper attempts to link the theoretical dimensions of patriarchy with its empirical experiences to engage in the ongoing...

Words: 9801 - Pages: 40

Premium Essay

Patriarchy

...Patriarchy is best defined as control by men. The opposite is matriarchy which means women are in charge and the head of families. Obviously, the culture of the United States and most other countries is patriarchal. Men have the power and control the women. If you don't believe that consider the basics of how our society functions. Women constantly must fight for their rights and sometimes they struggle just to survive without the power and domination of men threatening them. Whether an individual woman wants to conquer patriarchy will come from her desire to be independent and defined outside the context of men. Look to most world leaders to see how powerful patriarchy is. Women are certainly as capable as men to be President of the United States, yet they are not and probably won't be any time soon. Men have been in that role for so long that our country probably does not believe it is possible. Consider who is typically at the head of a company or leaders in local governments. While certainly more women are fulfilling these roles, it is a constant struggle for the ones who are able to achieve that success with men having much more power just by their biological nature. Men have not had to fight for their place in society like women have. It has been an expectation that they will become leaders because that is what patriarchy is about. Much of patriarchy also has its roots in Christianity. Religions which believe the Bible or other religious text often follow it faithfully...

Words: 12725 - Pages: 51

Premium Essay

“We Were the People Who Were Not in the Papers. We Lived in the Blank White Spaces at the Edges of Print…We Lived in the Gaps Between the Stories.” Discuss the Writers’ Exploration of Female Passivity.

...“We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print…We lived in the gaps between the stories.” Discuss the writers’ exploration of female passivity. William Shakespeare, Margaret Atwood and Alfred Tennyson all present female passivity as a deep-rooted, normalised concept that is engrained into the framework of relationships, society and government. Whilst this is seen to remain from the 1600s all the way to the 1980s, there are subtle differences in the portrayal of, attempted reasoning behind and methods used to enforce this passivity, highlighted through analysis of language, structure and context. The writers symbolically use setting to explore links between different aspects of female passivity. Tennyson links public and private spaces and their promotion of female passivity to illustrate societal as well as psychological and domestic examples of passivity. In Mariana, the “rusted” and “crusted” atmosphere of decay is representative of Mariana’s psychological deterioration and the stagnant “blacken’d waters” and “moated grange” act as an obstruction to her integration with the outside patriarchal world. This reflects the wider Victorian attitude regarding the home as “the centre of virtue and the proper life for women” and brings to light the impact that passivity in the greater context of society has on the role she plays in her private relationship. This idea of external influences is echoed much less figuratively...

Words: 3969 - Pages: 16

Free Essay

Secrecy Surrounding the Practice of Female Circumcision in Mabvuku and Tafara Surburbs

...independence. Due to this diversity, women and girls who have undergone female circumcision were interviewed. Mabvuku is a high-density suburb some seventeen kilometres east of Harare. It is classified as a suburb or township of Harare, with the Harare City Council constituting local government. This inquiry is exploratory, descriptive and qualitative in nature, based on interviews with women who had undergone the practice in Mabvuku-Tafara. The inquiry can be termed therefore, a qualitative research done through a case study design. This research method is preferred because the researcher is exploring a subjective understanding of social reality rather than a statistical description of generalized ideas. The quest is to discover a socially constructed reality from the viewpoint of the people being studied. This research presents female circumcision in its cultural context to understand the ethical motivations of this on-going practice and the reasons why it is secretive in nature. 1.1 BACKGROUND The attempt to define the practice of...

Words: 24160 - Pages: 97

Premium Essay

Wife by Bharathi Mukherjee

...University of Tennessee, Knoxville Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 5-2010 Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimaging the Nation in a Global Context Leah Rang University of Tennessee - Knoxville, lrang@utk.edu Recommended Citation Rang, Leah, "Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimaging the Nation in a Global Context. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2010. http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/655 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact trace@utk.edu. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Leah Rang entitled "Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimaging the Nation in a Global Context." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in English. Urmila Seshagiri, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Lisi Schoenbach, Bill Hardwig Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) To the Graduate Council:...

Words: 30269 - Pages: 122

Free Essay

Cheating

...CHEATING Definition Cheating is defined as the intentional act of breaking the rules, or attempting to achieve personal gain through fraud or deceit.16 To cheat is to deprive of something valuable by the use ofdeceit or fraud, to influence or lead by deceit, trick, or artifice, to practice fraud or trickery, to violate rules dishonestly, or to be sexually unfaithful.11 A cheater (sometimes called acheat) gets something by dishonesty or deception; or by depriving one of his or her rights and usually connotes deliberate perversion of the truth; or by large-scale cheating bymisrepresentation or abuse of confidence.11 Cheating is an act of lying, deception, fraud, trickery, imposture, or imposition. Cheating characteristically is employed to create an unfair advantage, usually in one's own interest, and often at the expense of others. Cheating implies the breaking of rules. Cheating is a primordial economic act: getting more for less, often used when referring to marital infidelity.3 Cheating is when a person misleads, deceives, or acts dishonestly on purpose.17  Cheating fundamentally includes several elements of both lying and stealing, with specific motivations to gain something of value by illegitimate means. That is why lying and stealing are discussed before cheating. Cheating is lying and/or stealing with the intention for acquiring something for more than merely the "pleasure" of fooling or depriving others.  Children Cheating as a concept is not understood by children...

Words: 19938 - Pages: 80

Premium Essay

Feminism

...UNIT 3 TRENDS IN FEMINISM Structure 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Objectives 3.3 Liberal Feminism 3.3.1 Liberal Thought 3.3.2 Classical Liberal Feminism 3.3.3 Second Wave Liberal Feminism 3.3.4 Weakness/Limitations of the Liberal Feminism 3.3.5 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.4 Marxist Feminism 3.4.1 Foundations of Marxist Feminism 3.4.2 Other Key Elements in Marxist Feminism 3.4.3 Limitations of Marxist Feminism 3.4.4 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.5 Psychoanalytic Feminism 3.5.1 The Beginnings of Psychoanalytic Feminism – Countering Freudian Theories 3.5.2 Explanation by other Theorists 3.5.3 Limitations of Psychoanalytic Feminism 3.5.4 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.6 Radical feminism 3.6.1 Definition 3.6.2 The influences that shaped Radical Feminism 3.6.3 What are the variations of Radical Feminism? 3.6.3.1 Radical- Libertarian Feminism 3.6.3.2 Radical-Cultural Feminism 3.6.4 Radical Feminism – Its Structure 3.6.5 The Outcomes of the Movement 3.6.6 Critiques of Radical Feminism 3.6.7 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.7 Postmodern Feminism 3.7.1 Postmodern Thought 3.7.2 Postmodern rethinking of psychological explanation of gender 3.7.3 Postmodern Feminist 3.7.4 Limitations of Postmodern feminism 3.7.5 Contribution to the women’s Movement 3.8 Black Feminism and Womanism 3.8.1 The Beginnings of Black Feminism 3.9 Cyber Feminism 3.9.1 Origin of Cyber Feminism 3.9.2 Definition of the 100 Anti Thesis 3.9.3 Cyber art and its relation to Cyber feminism 3.9.4...

Words: 17769 - Pages: 72

Premium Essay

Sexual Harassment

...Sexual Harassment Sexual harassment is considered a form of sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) defines sexual harassment as unwelcome sexual advance, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment can happen from the opposite sex as well as the same sex. There are two forms of sexual harassment; one is the most commonly know by people is called quid pro quo. It is the exchange of sexual favors for job benefits. Identifiable elements to determined quid pro quo from the case Pease vs. Alford Photo Industries are.  You are a member of a protective class  You were subjected to unwelcome sexual harassment in the form of sexual advances or requests for sexual favors from a supervisor or individual with authority over the plaintiff.  Harassment complained of was based on sex.  Submission to the unwelcome advances was an express or implied condition for receiving some form of job benefits, or refusal to submit to sexual demands resulted in a tangible job detriment.  Employer knew or should have known of the harassment. The second form of sexual harassment is called Hostile work environment. Its is unwelcome conduct constituting hostile work environment harassment must be sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim’s employment and create an abusive working environment. An example of this could be...

Words: 10643 - Pages: 43

Premium Essay

Discrimination of Hindus

...Hindus  in  South  Asia  and  the  Diaspora:   A  Survey  of  Human  Rights   2011               www.HAFsite.org     March  12,  2012                   “All  human  beings  are  born  free  and  equal  in  dignity  and  rights.”   “One  should  never  do  that  to  another  which  one  regards  as  injurious  to   one’s  own  self.    This,  in  brief,  is  the  rule  of  dharma.    Yielding  to  desire  and   acting  differently,  one  becomes  guilty  of  adharma.”   “Thus,  trampling  on  every  privilege  and  everything  in  us  that  works  for   privilege,  let  us  work  for  that  knowledge  which  will  bring  the  feeling  of   sameness  towards  all  mankind.”   Swami  Vivekananda,  “The  Complete  works  of  Swam  Vivekananda,”  Vol  1,  p.  429     Mahabharata  XII:  113,  8     Universal  Declaration  of  Human  Rights,  1948,  Article  1     "All  men  are  brothers;  no  one  is  big,  no  one  is  small.  All  are  equal."   Rig  Veda,  5:60:5       ...

Words: 82692 - Pages: 331

Free Essay

Getting

...well-illustrated with boxed key concepts and guides to further reading. • • • This breakthrough textbook has been designed to unravel the complexities of international relations theory in a way that allows students a clearer idea of how the theories work and the myths that are associated with them. Cynthia Weber is Professor of International Studies at the University of Lancaster. She is the author of several books and numerous articles in the field of international relations. International Relations Theory A critical introduction Second edition Cynthia Weber First published 2001 by Routledge Second edition published 2005 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor and Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to...

Words: 74303 - Pages: 298

Premium Essay

Religion, Fundamentalism and Ethnicity Global Perspective

...Ethnicity, Identity and Public Policy Critical Perspectives on Multiculturalism David Bromell Institute of Policy Studies Ethnicity, Identity and Public Policy Critical Perspectives on Multiculturalism David Bromell Institute of Policy Studies First printed in 2008 Institute of Policy Studies School of Government Victoria University of Wellington PO Box 600 Wellington © Institute of Policy Studies ISBN 158 IPS/Pub/978-1-877347-26-9 This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced without the permission of the Institute of Policy Studies. Copy editor: Belinda Hill Cover design: Milne Printers Ltd Printed by Milne Printers Ltd Contents List of Tables iv List of Figures iv List of Boxes iv Foreword v Acknowledgments and Disclaimer ix Part One: Introduction and Context of Inquiry 1 Introduction 2 New Zealand Context 3 21 Part Two: Communitarian Responses to Liberalism Introduction to Part Two 61 3 Civic Republicanism: Michael Sandel 63 4 The Politics of Recognition: Charles Taylor 83 Part Three: Multiculturalism Introduction to Part Three 105 5 Multicultural Citizenship: Will Kymlicka 107 6 Common Citizenship in a Multicultural Society: Bhikhu Parekh 151 Part Four: Critical Responses to Multiculturalism ...

Words: 135228 - Pages: 541